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Friday, March 27, 2015

City of Illusions

City of Illusions

by Judith Works

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

A yearning for change puts Laura on the road to Rome but her
marital problems, muted in cool Seattle, become magnified in the glare of the
Roman sun. Will she find happiness in the Eternal City or are her dreams only
an illusion?

EXCERPT:

When Laura received the e-mail she knew it was time
to confess.

Two months earlier when she was bored with editing
a technical manual sent to her by one of her clients, she took a break to check
out blogs by women who appeared to have more interesting lives than hers. She
came across a site recounting the adventures of an American family who lived in
Rome. The latest post told about their invitation by the owners of a small
country inn near Siena for a dinner to celebrate the grape harvest. After
rhapsodizing about the setting, the food, and the wine, the writer ended her
story with: “We’re so in love with this part of Tuscany we actually bought an
old farmhouse to fix up to use on weekends.”

Laura looked at her souvenir coffee mug with the
London Tube map, a relic of the high school graduation present from her aunt.
The long-ago trip had planted a seed of restlessness. Now, as her marriage
became ever-more routine, the germ had begun to grow, to push, sprout and
slowly turn into visions of a more interesting life somewhere away from
Seattle. To find a life with possibilities. And to distract from the unpleasant
incident a few months ago. Better to get as far away from the memory as
possible.

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

1. What's
the best and worst part of being an author?

I have lots of bests: the satisfaction of managing to get your thoughts
in order and chose the right words to tell the story; the pleasure of having the
manuscript accepted by a publisher; the thrill of holding the creature in your
hands when the first copies arrive on the doorstep. The worst part is editing –
deciding how much needs to be done; considering whether the critique is valid
and reflects what I am trying to convey; the actual effort of hitting the
delete key and beginning again.

2. Which book of yours is your favorite? Why?

My favorite is my last book. When my memoir, Coins in the Fountain, was published that was the favorite (mostly
because it was the first). Now the novel, City
of Illusions, which represents nearly four years of effort is the favorite
because I was not bound by the need for reality as in the memoir. I took
pleasure in using my imagination to conjure scenes involving events that I
could not know for sure happened in real life.

3. What are your favorite authors in the genre that you write?

I read a lot of women’s fiction, my genre. I enjoyed Maria Semples’ send
up of contemporary problems in Seattle, Where’d
you go, Bernadette, and Mary Gordon’s The
Love of my Youth, set in Rome. Although the time frame is the past century,
I enjoyed Jacqueline Winspear’s series about Masie Dobbs, as well as Paula
McLain’s The Paris Wife, and Melanie
Benjamin’s The Aviator’s Wife. The
problems women encounter in these books are universal.

4. Which of your characters is most like
you?

Laura, the protagonist in City of
Illusions, is most like me: she wants and needs a change, she takes the
leap, and she overcomes obstacles in her quest. I did not have her trials when
I lived in Rome – no affairs or deadbeat husband – but we shared similar
difficulties and pleasures – learning a new job and working with people from
other cultures, looking at dreadful apartments, and savoring the marvelous
food, wine, fashion, weather, and history. No wonder Laura does not want to
leave Italy – neither did I!

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS

Life
was routine until the author decided to get a law degree. Then a chance meeting
led her to run away to the Circus (Maximus) – actually to the United Nations
office next door – where she worked as an attorney in the HR department and
entered the world of expat life in Rome. The ten years of happy and sometimes
fraught experiences are the subject of her memoir, Coins in the Fountain. She
continues to travel, having visited over 100 countries in between many journeys
to Italy where she always tosses a coin in the Trevi Fountain to ensure a
return to Rome. Judith and her husband now live near Seattle where she is
working on her second novel.

www.facebook.com/judithworksauthor

www.aLittleLightExercise.blogspot.com

www.judithworks.net

Twitter:@judithworks

BOOK
TRAILER: bit.ly/COIYouTubeTrailerORhttp://youtu.be/8EsGi2sdVII

Previous
Book/Memoir:

Coins
in the Fountain

Background:

Judith
has a BS in Psychology, M Public Administration, JD from Lewis & Clark
School of Law.She has spent most of her
career in Human Resources administration.Judith is a member of Northwest Women Writers, past President of Edmonds
Friends of the Library, board member for Edmonds Center of the Arts,
vice-president EPIC Group Writers, and a member of PNWA and Willamette Writers.

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About Me

I've been married to the same wonderful man since 1973. We've been blessed with two great sons and three wonderful grandchildren. We live in a small town with our families nearby and count ourselves fortunate to do so.